Gerald has been repairing, refinishing, and building guitars for over twenty-five
years. He has been building guitars exclusively since 1993 and recently
celebrated 20 years in the business. Gerald
attributes his success and expertise to extensive research, hands-on
experience, association with instrument guilds, and feedback from
professional musicians and his customers.

His
instruments have been used for professional studio work and on stage by
today's top guitarists. Since 2003 Gerald has accepted the invitation of
Al Petteway to be the staff instrument builder/luthier for Guitar Week at
the world renowned Swannanoa Gathering (www.swangathering.org). There,
attending guitarists can view Gerald's work in progress, learn about
guitar woods, and learn how matching their playing style to a personal
guitar design.

Tone
related design features include concentricity of the lower bouts and tuned
chamber frequencies. An interesting optional tone related feature is the
thirteen fret to the neck design which moves the soundhole, bracing, and
bridge to the "sweet spot" closer to the center of the lower
bout.

Gerald holds a
Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology. After spending much
of his professional life in the engineering division of a large manufacturing company where
he incorporated Quality Management methodology into industrial and
management processes, he now builds 10 to 12 guitars per year as a full
time occupation.

Gerald understands the subject of quality. He has
applied it to his guitar making processes, and it shows. But he also knows
that time honored craftsmanship cannot be automated. That's why Sheppard guitars
are as beautiful to behold as they are to hear, and are made of best
quality materials available.

Owning
and playing fine guitars since he was a boy, Gerald understands how to match the
design of an instrument to meet the needs of the guitarist. Now that he supplies instruments to
other serious musicians, his philosophy is simple:

Photo by Al Petteway

"What I build must first satisfy me,
but the biggest test is that
it must satisfy the musician. I must assume that the guitarist has an
excellent ear for fine tone based upon years of experience; why else would
he/she even be interested in a high quality instrument? My intention is to
help the guitarist present a piece of music to the best of his/her ability,
and for it to sound the way it was intended
to sound."